Good news from Rome for the exiles and the Italian National Community in Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro. The Senate Budget Committee has in fact approved the amendment to the Italian State Budget Law for 2021 which maintains funding for the exiles and the minority. How important is this provision for the CNI? We asked the president of the Italian Union, Maurizio Tremul.

"The importance is fundamental because in this way we will be able to maintain and continue to work for the maintenance of the language, culture and identity of Italians in Croatia and Slovenia, and therefore for funding for schools, institutions, Italian communities and for the investments we have underway. With this amendment approved tonight by the Senate Budget Committee, funding is maintained both for the exiles of Law 72 of 2001 - two million and 300 thousand euros for each of the next three years -, and for the Italian national community in Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro with Law 73 of 2001 - three million euros in 2022, 2023 and 2024 - and Law 960 of 1982, which finances the activities following the Osimo Agreements, with an allocation of almost two million euros in each of the next three years. The funding currently planned for 2021 is maintained, which is a great result since yesterday there were fears that there would be a risk of some problems in this approval phase. We have been active as the Italian Union, myself in person, but also as Federesuli since November 17 when we learned that these Laws were not refinanced in the Italian State Budget Bill. We have written to all the parliamentary groups in the Senate and to senators and deputies as well as to the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to request the restoration of this funding. The amendments were correctly presented by various political forces, PD, Forza Italia, Italia Viva, Lega by November 29. We have followed the entire process, we have repeatedly urged for these amendments to be approved. Yesterday there was some fear, then in the end both the PD, Forza Italia and Minister Di Maio got very active – as they confirmed to me from Rome – so that last night the refinancing was approved in the current amount. So our means are safe, we can breathe a sigh of relief. I thank all the political forces, in particular those who have done most for this result. I also thank Federesuli with whom we have carried out intense coordination work in these weeks and also yesterday as if we were, and as we are, a team that works in great harmony. Now we have three years in which we can identify, all together, those formulas that allow us to make these allocations permanent and avoid having these difficulties that we encounter every three years“. (ac)

Source: Radio Capodistria – 22/12/2021